Giovanni Proiettis Has to Return to Mexico

Thinkers, Journalists and Organizers Demand the Return of the Deported Journalist

By Journalists, Intellectuals, and Artists from Mexico and the WorldSpecial to The Narco News Bulletin

April 17, 2011

Giovanni Proiettis, a respected Autonomous University of Chiapas (UNACH) professor and collaborator of the Italian newspaper Il Manifesto, was incredibly expelled from Mexico. The National Migration Institute (INM) claims that his immigration document (FM2) was out of date. Not true. On Friday April 5, Giovanni went to the INM office in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, to renew in a timely manner his immigration papers that were due to expire on the 10th. On Tuesday 12th, he was told that there were problems with the network and that the INM needed to keep his passport. He was asked to return on Friday the 15th and assured that everything was in order. On that day, Giovanni went to the offices of the INM at about 10.30 am to submit payment. It was a trap. He was arrested, and sent to Mexico City on a private jet. At 7:00 in the evening he was forced to board a plane bound for Rome via Madrid. He never had access to a lawyer, nor could he tell his wife, much less talk to the Italian Consul, all of which constitute serious violations of his human rights. For nearly 18 years, Giovanni Proiettis has been writing about the struggles of the indigenous peoples in resistance and, more recently, drug trafficking and the climate summit in Cancun (COP16). He has done so in foreign newspapers, without receiving financial remuneration. His expulsion suggests that the federal government is uncomfortable with these topics. We demand the return of Giovanni Proiettis to Mexico, his country of choice.